Characters /
Undertale - The Human Child

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The main character. A human child who climbs the forbidden Mt. Ebott and falls down a deep cave, awakening on a bed of flowers within the underground.

100% Heroism Rating: In the Pacifist Route, they gradually gain this status with the monsters of the Underground, to the point where not only do all the monsters come to back the child up when they get attacked by the Big Bad, but the same Big Bad later comes to befriend Frisk in the Golden Ending.

Ambiguously Bi: Beyond flirting with pretty much anything that moves, they can also go on dates with the male Papyrus and the female Alphys. In fact, the Golden Ending sort of requires that you do this, though it turns out neither of them are actually interested in them. Papyrus friend-zones you at the end of his date (and it only becomes a date if you flirt with him during his fight  otherwise, it becomes a "hangout" instead), and you and Alphys only went out because of a wacky misunderstanding on her part  she thoughtyouwere the one who wrote Undyne's love letter to her, and the sidequest quickly turns into the player sorting out the mess and setting those two up instead. All that being said, the only character you're allowed to actively pursue romantically is Papyrus, with all the other flirting (such as with Toriel) being for one-off tactical purposes only, and with them being an ambiguously-aged child it's entirely up in the air exactly how serious it all is.

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Ambiguously Brown: Their skin tone isn't really what might be thought of as Caucasian, Hispanic, or Asian, being somewhat closer to orange than a human skin color. This is probably for similar reasons as their other ambiguous traits.

Ambiguous Gender: Their gender is deliberately left vague, and when characters refer to the child, the pronouns used are exclusively gender-neutral. Thus fan artists and authors are left to interpret it however they'd like, or just go with whatever is most convenient for them. This is understandable though, as not only does this allow the player to insert themselves in the role, but it keeps the ambiguity so the reveal that the child you named is Chara, not Frisk, is a complete surprise for first-time players.

If you choose the Neutral route. While they just want to return to the surface and get away from monsters that want to kill them and take their soul, they are willing to use lethal force when it could be avoided.

For the most part of the game, the child is not specifically referenced to, nor do they have much agency; all this allows the player to play their role immersively. This is the straight version.

However, the child's name is explicitly stated near the tail end of the Golden Ending. This is to allow the player to decouple themselves from the game as it nears its conclusion, bringing closure to the mix. There is a very good reason for the game to encourage the player to move on, and allowing the child (instead of the player, which is impossible) to stay with their friends lets the story end properly. (The game wouldn't want you feel obligated to stick around.) This is the inverted version of the trope.

Of course, if the player decides to start murdering absolutely everybody, then a cutesy child wouldn't cut it as an audience surrogate anymore. In this case, the trope is averted/defied...

If the player decides to stick around and take the genocide route after the golden ending, they are subverting this trope.

Badass Adorable: Being something of a Ness expy, this just follows. However, in-universe, any human has the ability to be a force that no monster could hope to defeat simply due to how their physical natures differ. They're just the one who, for better or worse, achieves it. Comes to an absolute head when their DETERMINATION grows so immense that not even a reality-breaking Asriel can kill them.

Badass Pacifist: If you choose to play that way. Every challenge in the game can be passed without having to hurt anyone, even if it comes close to ending the world itself at times.

Blood on These Hands: A variant: in a No Mercy run, Papyrus specifically states that "their hands are always covered in dusty powder", which is what monsters turn into when they're killed.

Bunny-Ears Lawyer: If you plan not to resort to violence, some of the things you'd need to do to spare monsters can come across as bizarre or maybe even border on Violation of Common Sense if taken out of context. Getting a sentient airplane to spare you by moving towards it isn't even the craziest thing you can do.

But Now I Must Go: In the True ending, if you choose to not stay with Toriel, Frisk goes off on their own way to who-knows-where, though they keep in touch with everyone.

Canon Name: In a True Pacifist run, this kid's name is revealed to be Frisk. In fact, this has always been their name; you never named them to begin with.

Casanova Wannabe: If the player so chooses, they can hit on most of the major characters and several ordinary random encounters.

A Child Shall Lead Them: Implied in the True Pacifist route if the player accepts the Ambassador position offered by Asgore.

Cloud Cuckoolander: It's very downplayed, but the fact that saving at save points reveal how the child seems to see the weirdness they encounter as signs of encouragement implies this.

The Comically Serious: They also never change that overwhelmingly neutral expression of theirs, no matter how wacky, horrific, or tear-jerking a given situation might be.

Conditioned to Accept Horror: As Sans explains, hurting people drives you away from them, making it easier to hurt them even more, and this is what your LV really measures.The way Frisk hits Mad Dummy also changes depending on their LV as they become more violent.

Corrupt the Cutie: Probably occurs during the Genocide run. Despite their true personality being up to speculation, interpretation, and player choice, there's no real indication they are anything other than a regular child, albeit a determined one. And most children do not seek to commit genocide or destroy the world.

Conveniently an Orphan: Possibly, considering that it appears Toriel can adopt them without any issues if the player wishes in the True Pacifist ending.

Cowardly Lion: Doesn't happen often, but there are moments where the dialogue box (during any non-Genocide run playthrough) implies that they might be scared of having to face certain monsters in battle, like Undyne, Muffet, Final Froggit, Mettaton, and Asgore, but solders through facing them anyway. Also in the True Lab, where Frisk, on having to approach a partially hidden, creepy, and unknown monster, noticeably slows down from their normal walking speed. The player themselves cannot do a thing about it.

Dark and Troubled Past: Implied, but only ambiguously. Asriel notes that everyone supposedly knows the legend that whoever climbs Mount Ebott disappears, and theorises that the protagonist went there before the start of the game because they wanted to disappear. And the game apparently starts moments after the protagonist either falls down a hole in that very mountain, or jumps. Furthermore, the bandage that the protagonist starts the game with has explicitly already been used several times, indicating that the protagonist may have somehow gotten hurt a lot even before they fell into a cave full of monsters. And despite their young age, they seem to know how to fight, how to threaten people, and how to flirt, so make of that what you will.

The protagonist. They see things in save points that make them determined, and then press onwards. Deconstructed to chilling effect with the bad ending, in which the protagonist simply becomes determined on their own- determined to wipe out every monster in their way, and slaughter everyone for fun or other reasons.

In the Pacifist final boss fight, the player uses Frisk's determination to defy death. When the final boss would kill Frisk, their SOUL splits in two, then immediately reforms with the words "it refused."

All of humanity, according to the Pacifist ending: the wish to continue living and the drive to make it happen are a combination that (most) monsters don't have and which all monsters physically cannot take. This is one of the reasons humans are so much stronger than monsters.

Heavily zig-zagged based on how you play. The only thing that can get Toriel mad at you to begin with is one of the particularly cruel ways to dispatch her.note Namely, as a One-Hit Kill on the Genocide route or an off-guard kill after you got her to spare you. She remains compassionate and forgiving if you beat her in a straight fight in a Neutral playthrough. Papyrus offers his forgiveness and support unconditionally, even as he dies, Undyne refuses to associate with you if you kill anyone, locking you out of befriending her note And if you kill anyone after befriending her, she'll always take that as an unforgivable betrayal and hate your guts, Mettaton only legitimately bears you ill will to begin with on No Mercy, where he can forgive you as you kill him if you hadn't killed everything in the area yet, since he knows that, at least, humanity is safe. Asgore also bears you no ill will. You're just the next human he needs dead to complete his plan (that he doesn't even want to carry out).note Even in the Genocide route, you kill him before he can piece together how vicious you truly are. On top of all that, while Sans can certainly be displeased with you in a given run, he'll only despise and refuse to associate with you if you killed Papyrus, which also removes all of his event scenes until the final corridor from that particular run.

On a True Pacifist run, they're a practitioner rather than a recipient, where they're willing to spare (and even date and hang out with) some aggressively homicidal monsters. It's lampshaded in Asgore's epilogue dialogue.

Subverted on the Genocide Route. After destroying all monsterkind, the Fallen Child won't let Frisk go back wihout trading their soul. Even after getting the Pacifist Ending again, the Fallen Child will yank away Frisk's happy ending every time from then on.

Enfant Terrible: If you choose the Genocide route... good God, are they ever. They'll even try to murder other children in their demented crusade to purge all life in the underground.

Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas: Potentially, if you end a Genocide run by sparing Toriel. They'll gleefully slaughter their way through the Ruins, but can't bring themselves to harm her after she took care of them.

Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": Every single monster will call them 'Human'. Until the Playable Epilogue of a Pacifist route, where everyone now knows them as Frisk due to Asriel learning their name while the monsters were inside him.

Evil Virtues: Should they go down the Genocide route, they possess determination. They are determined to kill absolutely everyone and will accomplish so.

FaceHeel Turn: It's possible to pull a No Mercy run after completing a True Pacifist run. Given the revelations about the child's character from either route, however, it may not be done entirely willingly...

Fragile Speedster: During a Pacifist Run, you'd be playing this part, as not getting any EXP means your maximum hit points remain 20. And while getting more powerful armor items helps avert the 'fragile' part to a certain degree, you'll still need to have some skill at dodging attacks to survive most monster encounters.

Good Is Not Nice: Some of the choices that don't lock you out of True Pacifist are outright mean. For instance, you can spare a Snowdrake by telling them that their father never really loved them, beat everyone within an inch of their life, or eat the Snowman Piece right in front of the snowman himself, insult Papyrus by calling him a "loser", tell Vulkin that its "rump looks like a sack of trash" or that its attacks are "NOT helpful", not saving Monster kid when they accidentally trip in Waterfall, etc... And of course, the most heinous crime of all, taking as many asfourcandies from the bowl that says to take one, knocking it over in the process.

Guile Hero: A less violent protagonist ends up as this trope, taking advantage of the enemy's mindset to end fights without bloodshed.

Happily Adopted: By Toriel in the True Ending, if it is so chosen. The last shot of the ending is Toriel bringing Frisk a slice of pie while Frisk is sleeping quietly in their room.

Heel: Can play the part in the Mettaton battle (since he naturally plays the Face in this equation), which is an easy way to rack up the ratings. You can do this even as a pacifist, and in fact doing so makes the least violent ending to that fight much easier. Posing dramatically also helps to this end.

You can turn aside from your goal in any boss fight in a No Mercy run... up until you fight Sans. By the time you fight him, you're too far in; if you lower your guard and accept his offer, he'll kill you. This is also a Call-Back to his more innocent brother's (genuine) offer earlier in a No Mercy run.

If you complete the Genocide Run in its entirety, the Fallen Child makes sure you remember the playthrough by taking Frisk's soul and ruining their happy ending in all subsequent playthroughs.

HeelFace Turn: Is offered many chances to pull one on No Mercy, first explicitly when Papyrus stops them, then when the Monster Kid confronts them just before Undyne, then they're pretty much forced into one if you don't immediately waste Mettaton during his fight (or rush too fast to his encounter, leaving monsters spared). The last of these is a Downplayed Trope, since you get a special ending for a No Mercy run aborted so late (with Mettaton killed), where you get a massive "The Reason You Suck" Speech for your actions. The last boss of the run offers one... only to kill the Child if they accept it and telling them not to fight him again if they really wanted to put an end to this.

Hero Killer: Five of them, no less! In the No Mercy route, they kill Toriel, Papyrus, Undyne, Mettaton, and the final boss, all monsters who are the most heroic in nature. All this serves so that normal monsters will fear the Child long before they arrive, and entire towns will be abandoned out of the Child's fearsome reputation.

Heroic Mime: The version where dialog with other characters is unspoken or picked as a menu option. Monologues are written in the second-person. It is commonly believed that the Fallen Child, who you name yourself after, is the one writing the monologues. In the Pacifist Route, they playfully explain everything to the main character. However, in the Genocide route, they begin hijacking the narration. For instance, inspecting a mirror will read "It's me, (name)" instead of "It's you."

Hidden Depths: Flowey heavily suspects and verbally speculates that the Child desires a happy ending above all else. He also implies that the reason the Child went to Mt. Ebott before falling into the Underground was to commit suicide.

Hope Bringer: Becomes an unwavering beacon of hope that everybody in the underground looks to during the pacifist route.

Humanoid Abomination: Whatever the protagonist was before entering the underground, they're clearly not entirely human by the end of a Genocide Run (possibly due to the player's horrendous actions).

In the Neutral or Imperfect Pacifist endings, sparing Asgore basically means the Child is giving up their chance to escape the Underground and deciding to remain trapped there as opposed to escaping by killing someone. Though, in all subsequent Neutral playthroughs after the first, Asgore refuses to allow this and commits suicide so the Child can escape.

In the True ending, you can choose to stay with Toriel, which leads to the Child being Happily Adopted by her.

Implacable Man: The human child is full of determination. In the No Mercy run, nothing is able to impede their rampage. Even if they are killed, they'll just come back from a checkpoint and try again.

Improbable Weapon User: Starts out armed with a stick, and moves on to a toy knife, a single leather glove, ballet shoes, a notebook, a frying pan, and finally a gun with no ammunition. The final weapon, bucking the trend, is an actual knife, but of what use it will be depends on your route: ironically, the knife becomes a valuable weapon for the final boss fight of the Neutral Route, described as a worn dagger used for cutting plants, while it's purely cosmetic and useless in the Genocide Route, only described as a "REAL Knife" from the Fallen's tainted narration. Also, an event at the very end of the game implies that everything but the stick and the actual knife were possessions of the each of the six people who came here before you and didn't survive.

Intergenerational Friendship: The Protagonist, a child, becomes friends with everybody in the underground in the Pacifist Route, especially the main six characters who are all adults. Toriel and possibly Asgore are more akin to Parental Substitutes, however, and Toriel can adopt them if you so choose it at the end of the game, but otherwise, the other monsters all see them as close and equal despite their age.

Interspecies Adoption: Toriel attempts this with the Child early in the game. Later on, Asgore gives Frisk this offer should they spare him, but he's killed before Frisk can make a decision. It's only at the end of a Pacifist Run that Frisk gets to choose whether or not to stay with Toriel. If Frisk agrees, this time it takes.

Jerk with a Heart of Gold: On a Pacifist run, you can be quite mean to everyone verbally and through your actions, but still refuse to take a single life.

Jerkass: You're this on a Genocide Route, and which a number of characters find this out the hard way.

Karmic Death: On the No Mercy path, Papyrus offers to spare you in hopes that you'll turn good, but you kill him anyway in one hit while his guard is down. Much later during the Final Boss, if you accept their offer to spare you, the Child will be hit with an unavoidable One-Hit Kill.

Kid Hero: While the Child's age is never specified, they are just that  a child  and one who braves underground caverns full of monsters while armed with a stick.

During a No Mercy run, the Buy and Sell options in empty stores are changed to Take and Steal: the former lets you help yourself to the store's inventory for free, while the latter lets you empty out their registers at your leisure, although the latter option only gives any noticeable amounts of cash in Snowdin (presumably because it's the shop that had the least amount of time to evacuate, whereas Bratty and Catty operated out of a literal back alley over three quarters through the game).

Even during a Pacifist Run you still have the option of stealing three extra pieces of candy from the bowl despite being clearly told to only take one.

Lightning Bruiser: You become one in the Genocide route, as you'll be able to kill most monsters (including bosses) in one blow, easily survive damage thanks to having high HP and Defense, and you get to stay as fast as you'd normally be. The Genocide battles with Undyne and the final boss, however, can and are very likely to be challenging depite said powers.

Magically Inept Fighter: All damage they dish out is physical in nature. This doesn't bring too much of a hindrance fighting monsters except with the Mad Dummy, who, as a ghost possessing a dummy, cannot be hurt by standard means.

While sparing monsters is the encouraged option, the Child is more than capable of fighting back if pressed. Mettaton and Asgore are two crowning examples, the former being a Killer Robot and the latter being the king of all monsters. Even after these fights, they can elect to spare them, and they acknowledge that the child's unwillingness to kill has no effect on their overall strength, neither of body nor of character.

Even on a pure pacifist run, the Child will need to fight the king. And they will win.

Meaningful Name: The Human Child's real name: Frisk. A "Frisk" is an event where you have a good time, something with lots of fun, which reflects the pacifist route. To "Frisk" is also to search a person or object for something concealed, which accurately describes how Frisk goes through the Pacifist route, figuring out their opponents' inner struggles and helping them find peace. In Scandinavian languages, to be "Frisk" also means to be "healthy" or "sound"; contrast with Deltarune's protagonist, Kris, whose name in Scandinavian languages invokes the word "crisis" or "critical."

Meat Puppet: In a rather spoilery way. Frisk is not truly a cipher for the player character. They're an individual with their own will, but extremely little ability to act on it. Rather, they are possessed by what Sans calls an Anomaly: either it's the Fallen Child or the player themselves (or both) depending on the interpretation.

Muggles Do It Better: Because humans are physical, not magical (like monsters), their use of physical force is far stronger than any monster's, as evidenced by a No Mercy or high-casualty Neutral run. However, this means that humans are vulnerable to magic (hostile or benign) that monsters are generally immune to.

Mysterious Past: We don't know a single thing about the Child's past  only that at one point they ended up on Mt. Ebott somehow. Only in the Playable Epilogue to the Golden Ending does anyone think to ask why a young child would visit a mountain rumored to kill anyone who climbs it, and they uncomfortably change the subject before getting an answer.

Nice Guy: Play your cards right on the Pacifist route, and the Child can become a hero who solves nearly all of their problems with friendship, and befriends and forgives everybody, including a tragic and soulless floral monstrosity.

While it's unknown who's is truly in control during the cutscenes,there's plenty of instances outside of the No Mercy run where the child acts (somewhat) independently of the player in expressing themself, most notably in the True Lab: They display hesitation in the bathtub area, as their walking movement suddenly slow as they approach it.

They approaches Asgore or Photoshop Flowey without your input.

If you reloaded after killing Toriel, they'll look at Toriel as if they had seen "ghost".

There's an additional one in the True Lab. While watching the tapes recorded by the Dreemurr family. After each one, Frisk will turn around, as if aware they shouldn't be watching it. Or, given how each video has to do with the Fallen Child, who you named yourself after, they're looking back atyou.

To a lesser degree, during the encounter of Muffet, she will ask why the child 'looks pale', implying that that the human child gave Muffet an Oh, Crap! expression off-screen.

If you spare Asgore in some neutral endings,he will note that Frisk has a "hope"in their eyes right after suggesting them to live with him and his wife as their child.

Oedipus Complex: The Child can flirt with the old goat lady after calling her mom.

Omnicidal Neutral: It's possible to a get a "kill everyone" ending without triggering the No Mercy ending.

One-Man Army: On a No Mercy run, the Child's Determination, LV, and EXP are so high that they can effortlessly massacre countless monsters.

Player Character: Because of the way the game handles Player and Protagonist Integration, the human is explicitly made out to be a separate entity from the player. This gets touched upon much more in the Pacifist and No Mercy routes. The Pacifist ending, for instance, reveals that the character's name is Frisk, regardless of what name you picked at the beginning of the game.

Plot Allergy: To Temmies. This is unfortunate because they also like to pet humans, and without the allergy, they'd be completely harmless.

For Flowey, of the Fallen Child. Poor guy couldn't let go, and up until just before the end of the game, he addressed the Protagonist like their long lost friend. This is most evident in a No Mercy Run, where Flowey treats you better, more like an old friend, because you're acting more like the Fallen Child, at least according to him.

An Easter Egg message you can find in an echo flower is from Flowey suggesting that Toriel tried to make you into one for the Fallen too. He seems to believe she also did this to both of them with the other humans and resents her for it; how much of this is the truth is questionable, though, as Flowey's very much an Unreliable Narrator.

Ret Conjuration: This only comes up if you die or reload saves at certain points. Flowey used to have the same power, but Frisk's power takes priority over his. Flowey regains it in the form of six save states after taking the human souls from Asgore.

Retroactive Precognition: They are able to remember any and all activity that that happens in the game except for a True Reset, regardless of whether you saved or if it's part of the same playthrough. Although this usually does little except change some dialogue here or there (e.g. expressing boredom during Mettaton's performance because you've already seen it), the fact that Sans is able to pick up on these subtleties and guess that you're a time traveler is a critical part of his character.

The Runaway: This, and maybe worse, is implied as a possible reason why they climbed Mt. Ebott.

"Why did you come here? Everyone knows the legend, right...? 'Travellers who climb Mt. Ebott are said to disappear.' [...] Why would you ever climb a mountain like that? Was it foolishness? Was it fate? (sad expression) Or was it... Because you...?"

Thou Shalt Not Kill: Naturally possible, the ability to play this completely straight in an RPG is one of the selling points of the game. Doing so is even necessary for the Golden Ending.

Tomato Surprise: They have an identity that is not the person you named at the beginning of the game  their name is Frisk. You named the Fallen Child, and even they, depending on the interpretation, may or may not be you.

Took a Level in Jerkass: In the No Mercy run, the protagonist becomes remarkedly less friendly with everyone. They can take several pieces of snow from the snowman, completely turning them into "useless pile of snow", and climb roughly on Monster Kid. Sans even describes them as "emotionless" and no one recognizes them as human despite them having a human body and soul.

Took a Level in Kindness: When you play a Pacifist Run after a No Mercy or particularly dusty Neutral Run. Flowey lampshades and taunts you to take this on your second run after a Neutral:

Flowey: Remember. DON'T kill anyone. I can't believe this is a REAL thing I have to remind you.

Tragic Villain: In the Genocide Route. By the end of the game, they're nothing but an empty meat puppet that the player and the Fallen Child uses in their quest to kill everything that moves.

Transformation of the Possessed: While it's not evident by looking at the sprite, their appearance is implied to become disfigured over the course of a No Mercy run due to their murderous desire. Asgore won't even recognize them as human by the time they reach his lair.

Vague Age: They are never given an age and only ever described as a child. This means they could be anywhere between five and twelve years old. This is probably done for the same reasons as Ambiguous Gender. A large amount of the fandom seems to assume they are 8, however.

Villain Protagonist: If you choose the No Mercy route. They go out of their way to kill every monster they can and are clearly satisfied when there are no monsters left in the area.

The Voiceless: They can speak, and you are allowed to make dialogue choices for them occasionally, but nothing they say is ever actually written out on screen.

Wholesome Crossdresser: Whether you imagine them as a boy or girl or nonbinary, in any case, they have no problem wearing ribbons, tutus, or manly bandannas with abs printed on them. Considering those things (somehow) raise your Defense, it's probably just for the sake of practicality.

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